Saturday, 28 December 2013

President
Obama’s call, in his State of the Union address, for making preschool available
to every four year old in the country is a welcome statement. Studies have
proven beyond any doubt that children who attend preschool do far better when
they reach kindergarten than those who were denied this benefit. To put it in
monetary terms, the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate of the
United States Chamber of Commerce, has found that for every dollar invested in
early childhood education, savings of up to $17 in the future are
possible.Another way of defining the benefits of good preschooling can be found
in a Cincinnati program known as Success 6 where effective preschool education
has raised the volume of “ready to read” children entering kindergarten to 57%,
a significant improvement over the 44% level of a few years ago. An interesting
fact is that over 80% of these “ready to read” children continue to read at or
above their age levels even at the end of the third grade. The significance of
the is number lies in the fact that research shows that children who are not
good readers by the time they reach the third grade are four times more likely
to drop out of high school than children who can read at the appropriate age
level. This is a testament to the long lasting results that effective
preschooling provides.

The Growth Years

A
child’s brain grows to about 85% of its full capacity in the first five years
of life. This, coupled with the development of evaluation and assessment
abilities, albeit underdeveloped, in the child, means that what is internalized
by the age of five is what will remain as the foundation for further knowledge
acquisition as the years pass.

The
argument that educating children before they are of kindergarten age is
damaging to them may be seen to have some at least partially valid points. But
a carefully planned and effective preschooling program can overcome all of
these. It is thought that making young children attend preschool regiments them
too much. However, if done properly, preschool will help them to focus and
refine their curiosity and natural enquiring instincts so that they are better
able to find and retain the information and facts they are in search of. And
the argument that preschool denies a child the essential freedom to play is
easily countered. The knowledge and cognitive abilities that preschool provides
to a child add to the value and meaning of the playing that is done. And the
balance that naturally comes between preschool and less organized play
activities at home allow for an understanding to develop of the difference
between formal and informal activities. This in turn leads to an instinctive
appreciation of the benefits that both have to offer.

We Cannot Afford To Be Left Behind

While
the benefits that come from effective preschool education cannot be denied, it
is often seen as affecting only the children who receive it. What is often not
understood here in the USA
is that the effect is on the nation and its future as a whole. While debate
rages about universal preschool in the country, China is reported to have set
itself a goal of ensuring that at least 70 % of the children in the country get
3 years of preschool education. India
is spending huge amounts to modernize and increase the reach of its primary and
preschool education system. Both countries are today prime movers of economic
growth and are seen as the future economic superpowers. The focus that nations
like these are placing on preschool as a means to ensure long term development
and strength is something we cannot afford to ignore.

Friday, 13 December 2013

Children are by nature adventurous and often do not know their own
limits. Because of this young children and toddlers need careful supervision
while playing. But the natural desire of adults to keep children safe often comes
into conflict with the natural need of children to explore and develop risk
taking abilities and judgment. That is why assessing playground risks for young
children is very important and why an objective evaluation of the quantum of
risk is essential. To allow unsupervised play is obviously dangerous. But
to cosset children too much will stifle their creativeness and ability to learn
the art of making risk assessments – a loss that could hurt them in many ways
as they grow older. An understanding of risk levels in common playground
activities will allow for an effective balance to be maintained between
supervision and cosseting.

The Levels of Risk

Recent
studies have identified six risky play activities. These are:

·Climbing and / or playing at heights

·Running and other high speed activities
or motions

·Playing with potentially harmful
objects

·Playing with or in dangerous element

·Play that becomes excessively rough

·Any activities where the child may be
lost of disappear from sight

Of all
of these, the most dangerous has been found to be play that requires climbing
or movement at considerable heights above ground.

Children Are Inconsistent

While
the risk areas can be broadly identified, the reaction of children to these
risks varies greatly. For example, most children are aware of the rules for
safe use of playground equipment, and that many activities can be potentially
harmful. But these same children also usually admitted that the rules were
often flouted because to do so was attractive and increased the “fun” element.
Another problem is that children’s attitude to risk factors is not consistent.
Some children will understand the risks involved with playing near water or a
cliff, but others will not.

The
bottom line here is that while there are some generalizations that can be made
about the nature and types of risk that children are exposed to while playing,
no generalization can be made about the type and nature of supervision that is
required. The psychology of each child will need to be understood in order to
evaluate the amount of risk the child will accept and in consequence, the
amount of supervision that is required.

Rebels Without A Cause

To say
that young children need careful supervision when playing is to state the
obvious. But overdoing this can be counterproductive. Children,as already
stated, are by nature risk takers – either because they do not see the risk or
cannot appreciate the consequences and dangers or because they are in search of
new experiences. If new experiences and the exhilaration that comes with them
are denied to these children, the frustration levels will rise. And after a
time this will build to the level that rebellion, albeit unconscious, against
the restrictions will arise. Because the children are not able to understand
the reasons for their frustrations or communicate them, their attitude and
perceived negative behavior is often seen as simple indiscipline and
unwillingness to accept authority. The common reaction to this is often to
increase the levels of supervision and control exercised on these children
without any effort to understand that it arises from the natural need to
experience the exhilaration that comes from new experiences – an exhilaration
that should not be stifled.

Parents
and preschool teachers need to go the extra mile to ensure that while children
are kept safe, they are not prevented from feeling the rush that comes from new
experiences and limited amounts of risk.

Friday, 27 September 2013

Gardening is one of the most
satisfying of all activities, irrespective of age. Planting a seed and seeing a
plant grow from it offers a sense of achievement and pride that even a toddler
will feel, even if the process by which it has happened is not completely
understood. While the colors and beauty of flowering plants will add to a
child’s appreciation of nature, being part of the process of growing vegetables
will encourage children to eat even those for which they have an instinctive
dislike.

Gardening can be a very
positive preschool or day care activity and the children will love it. It
doesn't to need a large amount of space and expensive equipment. A small
patch of earth and a few basic child friendly tools are all that is required.
Having said this, teachers must ensure that the children are closely supervised
at this time – putting dirt and unwashed vegetation in their mouths is
something all kids love to do.

Tips For Gardening With Toddlers

The basic principle to keep
in mind is that gardening must be made safe for the kids – having fun while
doing it will come naturally to them.

Use gardening tools
that are designed for use by young kids. These are safe with no sharp edges on
which they can cut themselves. And the small size makes it easy for small hands
to hold, lift and use.

Find age appropriate
gardening tasks for the kids. The youngest ones may not be able to do any
planting, but watering plants will come naturally to them. Most of them will
enjoy plucking and picking and helping to keep the garden area clean. And they
will all love to dig in the dirt and make shapes with the mud they dig up.

When flowers and
vegetables are ready for plucking, let the children do it. Show them how to do
the plucking without damaging the plant. This may take a few repetitions. But
once they learn how to do it properly, they will truly enjoy collecting the
flowers to decorate the classroom or the vegetables which they can eat
themselves.

Gardening need not always
be outdoors. Find some visually appealing and fast growing plants and place the
seeds between layers of wet paper towels. Place this in a plastic bag and keep
it in a warm place. The kids will enjoy watching the seed germinate and being
able to see the changes happening in front of their eyes will be fascinating.
Toilet paper cylinders and egg cartons make great planters into which the
germinated seeds can be transferred.

When the sprouts in
the planters have grown big enough to be planted outside, let the kids do this.
Be prepared for a lot of plants to be lost – kids can be too rough with them.
But when they see the damage they are doing by being too rough with the plants
they grew, they will learn the need for being gentle and careful

Keep the gardening fun
by installing a fairy house or placing a few small plastic animals around the
garden for the kids to play with. Here too some of the plants may be damaged in
the early stages of playing, but the kids will naturally become more careful
when the see the damage that is being done to their loved plants.

If there is enough space, keep some aside for the
kids to try and plant and maintain a garden on their own – but under
“hands off” adult supervision. Of course they will mainly make mistakes
and do the wrong thing, but that is the whole point. When they see the
difference between their own efforts and what is done with adult guidance,
they will want to do better.

Friday, 13 September 2013

Reading is the foundation of all learning and
the more proficient a child’s reading ability, the easier studying is. The
mistake that many parents, and a number of teachers, make is to pressurize
children into trying to read too early. Studies show that a child actually
begins to read, in the sense of being able to understand basics concepts and
ideas from the written word, only at the age of 6 or so. To force an attempt at
such comprehension on a toddler can lead to confusion, a dislike of reading
caused by not understanding what it means and offers and future problems in
comprehending school curricula.

However, this does not mean that younger children should not be encouraged to
look at books and try to understand the alphabet, words and perhaps even a few
simple phrases and sentences. If they can do this, it will help them to
progress faster when formal reading begins. But if they are not happy with
this, it should not be forced on them. Some kids start later but then progress
very fast and leave the early beginners behind. Here are a few tips on
encouraging a child to read.

Teaching Reading

The first
step is to begin reading to a child at a very young age – even a few weeks
old is fine. Not only does this develop a bond with the child, it makes
books a part of the child’s life. As time passes and the words being read
and the pictures to be seen make sense, the attraction for books and being
able to read on their own will grow.

Read from
the right age appropriate books. For children of up to 18 months of age
read lullabies, board books with real pictures, song books and cloth books
of different textures. For the ages of 19 months to 3 years song books,
nursery rhymes and board books with short stories are the best. For
children between 3 and 6 song books, rhyming books, picture books and
story books will attract and retain their interest.

Once a
child is able to comprehend at least a small part of what is being read,
begin to ask a few simple questions. Watch the child being read to and
note any parts of the story that seem to elicit special interest. These
are the parts on which questions should be asked as the child has been
more involved here and would have paid special attention. Keep the
questions simple and basic and help and prompt the child to give answers.
If the answers are not right, work with the child to encourage the correct
answer to be given. At all times offer encouragement and aim to keep the
child involved as an active participant in the discussion.

Set a good
example by doing your reading in front of the child. Children are heavily
influenced by what adults do and will often try to copy what they see.
Even if the child is resting or playing with toys, the fact that you are
reading and enjoying it will register and the child will wonder what is so
nice about reading.

Once a
child is familiar and comfortable with books, it is time to start reading.
Begin by sitting with the child and allowing him or her to see each word
you read. In time common sight words – the most common ones in the
language - will be understood in the same way pictures are. From this will
come an association of letters of the alphabet with specific sounds and
with this the basics of reading are in place.

Thursday, 29 August 2013

One would think that with the
increasing focus on providing children a good grounding at a young age so as to
allow them to learn and achieve more in school, preschool would be necessary
and even mandatory in all states, including California. Surprisingly, this is not so. In
California
parents and guardians are not required to register their children for
kindergarten or preschool because the children are not of legal age and so
cannot be mandatorily enrolled in an education establishment. According to
estimates around 50,000 kids, (10% of preschool or kindergarten aged children)
skip enrolling each year because state law does not make education compulsory
till the age of 6.

But while the law does not
require parents to send their children to preschool, most of them do or at
least want to. And finding the reason why is not hard. In a world that is
getting increasingly competitive, giving a child the right grounding and start
in the learning process is something that will stay with him or her for the
rest of his or her life. Many educators find that first graders who have not
been to preschool or in kindergarten are behind other children in the same age
group when it comes to academic or social development. These children are also
more likely to flunk a grade sometime during the elementary school years.

Starting Too Late

There are many reasons why
children are not sent to preschool. In the case of California many are from immigrant families
who are unfamiliar with the American educational system and cannot navigate
their way through school district bureaucracies. Or parents’ work schedules do
not mesh with preschool timings. In some cases children are put into day
care when they are infants and when parents find that the children are happy
there, they do not think of moving to preschool later because they are not
aware of the differences between daycare and preschool.

But preschool does not exist
just to provide parents with a place to send their kids before they are old enough
for school. It is a place where a child is given the tools and encouragement to
begin the learning process in a way that is pressure free and fun. The aim of
preschool is to waken children’s innate curiosity and show them the
satisfaction that comes from finding the answers to the questions they have.
Thus the acquisition of knowledge, even at a very basic level, becomes an
interest and not a chore that is to be avoided whenever possible.
Children who learn because they want to are usually academically ahead of
those who learn because they have to.

Just like adults, children
can become set in their ways and if the concept of learning does not become
part of their lives at a young age, the difficulty in accepting it as a part of
life increases with age. Children are malleable, physically and mentally, when
very young and this is the ideal time to encourage them to focus on learning.
Unfortunately, many parents do not appreciate this or feel that by sending
their children to preschool they are depriving them of their childhood. This is
completely incorrect. In preschool there are no judgments or competition to see
who is learning more. All that is done is that the children’s cognitive
abilities are stimulated to enable them to want to learn. And being in a preschool
with their peers means that the transition from home to regular school is not
as traumatic as it can be for those who begin their education only from the
first grade.

So even
though preschool is not mandatory in California,
parents who want to give their children the benefits of a happy and fruitful
school life will be well advised to consider sending their kids to preschool.